Subnautica

Fandom
Name:	Subnautica
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:
Date(s):
Medium:	Video Game
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Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

Subnautica is a video game franchise in which players explore and survive the alien planet 4546B.

In Subnautica, the player assumes the role of crash survivor Ryley Robinson, who must travel thousands of metres under the ocean to unravel the mystery of the Kharaa bacterium. Several years after Ryley's escape, the player returns to 4546B in the sequel Below Zero. Though protagonist Robin Ayou originally comes to Planet 4546B to discover the truth behind her sister's death, the plot is derailed when Architect alien AL-AN forces themself into her brain and enlists her in their mission to build themself a vessel.

Fandom

Despite its mainstream success, Subnautica's fandom community remains relatively small. The heavy gameplay focus and lack of character interaction aren't conducive to fandom development.

A handful of Subnautica fanblogs exist on Tumblr - the most prominent active blog being transhoverfish - and there are still some Subnautica-dedicated Youtube channels, most prominently The Last Bacon and SpeedyMouse.

Some of the creatures have more of a fan following than others, in particular the Reaper Leviathan.

Shipping

Shipping was historically a minor fandom endeavour, due to the lack of canonically alive characters for Ryley to interact with. However, the release of the more character-focused sequel Below Zero prompted a deluge of ship content, with a particular focus on the protagonist Robin Ayou and her alien companion AL-AN. Pre-Below Zero shipping generally involved Ryley Robinson and a deceased side character; either on the Aurora before their death, or in an alternate universe where more survived the crash.

Notable Subnautica ships include:

AL-AN/Robin Ayou

The most popular ship in the Subnautica tag on the Archive by far - as well as the only Subnautica relationship tag with over 100 fanfictions, as of June 2024. Their forced proximity, contrasting cold-sunshine personalities and frequent banter inspired an influx of fanart and fiction, both romantic and platonic.

Notable AL-AN/Robin fanworks include:

• 'School's giving me the royal beatdown but I just need to draw them being cute', by keltii-tea;
• knowing little of your wounding (share our mending all the same), by CrypticVirago.

Jochi Khasar/Ryley Robinson (Rochi)

Despite this ship's mysterious origins - Jochi and Ryley are never known to interact in canon - it has become the third-most popular ship in the Subnautica tag on the Archive of Our Own, as of June 2024. The first Jochi/Ryley fanfiction (and indeed the bulk of the tag) was published on October 2nd, 2022, by Archive user heck_but_an_account_babeyy. It appears to be the first instance of Jochi/Ryley ship content on the internet.

Notable Jochi/Ryley fanfictions include:

• i quickly became homophobic, by heck_but_an_account_babeyy - the first fic in the tag;
• let the fire take its toll (i'm coming home), by marspumpkin.

Bart Torgal/Ryley Robinson

Bart Torgal dies approximately a decade before Ryley's crash-landing on 4546B. Bart/Ryley fanfictions often imagine an alternate timeline in which Bart survives - either curing himself of the Kharaa or mutating and adapting to it - and aids Ryley in their survival.

Notable Bart/Ryley fanfictions include:

• Exhale, by ryttu3k;
• coevolution, by rowan09.

Other ships

• Officer Keen/Jochi Khasar (Keensar), which was revealed to Subnautica blogger transhoverfish in a dream;
• Avery Quinn/Ryley Robinson;
• Avery Quinn/Bart Torgal/Ryley Robinson;
• Berkeley/Yu;
• Marguerit Maida/Robin Ayou;
• Sam Ayou/Danielle Valenti, who canonically dated before Sam's death;
• Dr. Danby/Ozzy.

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Subnautica maintains a minor fanfiction community, with under 1,000 works published on the Archive of our Own. Crossovers are a popular genre of Subnautica fanfiction. These historically featured Youtubers such as Markiplier and Jacksepticeye, who released hugely popular Subnautica playthroughs; in more recent years, large numbers of crossovers focusing on Minecraft Youtubers or characters from Five Nights at Freddy's have emerged. Non-crossover fics often focus on Ryley Robinson's survival efforts, or diverge from canon to explore how they would interact with deceased side characters, such as Bart Torgal and Avery Quinn.

Notable Subnautica fanfictions include:

• reintegration, by recryption;
• Controlled Descent, by ryttu3k;
• Survivors, by leoxxii;
• Heartsong, Sea, by winterlogic.

Modding

Subnautica has a vibrant modding community. Prominent mods include Deathrun by Cattlesquat, notorious for the extreme challenge it adds to the game - its additions include unbreathable surface air, decompression sickness, and increased mob aggression and building costs. The Return of the Ancients mod garnered significant online attention due to its promised addition of the Gargantuan Leviathan, but was never completed. SpeedyMouse's challenge mod which makes lava rise every second became popular on Youtube in 2022, alongside his other mods, such as his Lava Zone Challenge that spawns the player in (shockingly!) the Lava Zone at the beginning of the game.

Controversies

In February of 2018, Subnautica's sound designer Simon Chylinski was fired from Unknown Worlds due to hateful online conduct. These included tweets disparaging immigration ("importing random ppl from the 3rd world is also importing 3rd world tier crime rates and IQ"), diversity in video games ("we need a ‘diversity’ slider in the options. It will make the character progessively [sic] darker more feminie [sic] and less sexy"), and "SJW logic". Kotaku also reports Chylinski mocked gender diversity and '[praised] colonialism'.